Competition Factor Key In Location Of 1st Track

May 22, 1989|By DAVID TEEL Staff Writer

Those who plan to build Virginia's first horse racing track are uncertain of its eventual location. Horsemen in Maryland and West Virginia, skittish that competition could derail their recent booms, are convinced of the ideal venue.

Hampton Roads. Along the Interstate 64 corridor east of Richmond.

"A weekend in Williamsburg with racing in the area would be great," said Robert Burke, chairman of the West Virginia Racing Commission.

"The Richmond, Norfolk and North Carolina markets don't have access to tracks on a regular basis," said Richard Wilcke, executive director of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association. "If they put a track in Northern Virginia, we'd be less enthused about that."

Indeed, Maryland's three major tracks - Pimlico, Laurel and Bowie - are within 70 miles of Northern Virginia. As is West Virginia's top track - Charles Town.

Yet the two sites most discussed for a Virginia track, which likely will open in 1992, are the Interstate 64 corridor between Richmond and Norfolk and the Interstate 95 corridor between Richmond and Washington.

Northern Virginia is more populated and is close to the heart of Virginia horse country - Warrenton and Middleburg. There would be less competition in Hampton Roads.

Virginia Sporting Associates, a six-man group that announced intentions to build a track even before voters approved pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing in a November referendum, has hired California-based analyst William Killingsworth to study possible sites.

"It's a finite world out there of people who enjoy horse racing. This will cut up the market place," said Alexandria attorney Bill Thomas, who heads Virginia Sporting Associates.

"Northern Virginia would be a foolish place to put a track," said Bob Manfuso, a Pimlico vice president. "Florida tracks have really hit each other over the head and it's really hurt (business)."

The most intense competition in Florida pits stately Hialeah against newer rivals Gulfstream and Calder. All three tracks, located within 40 miles of each other in southern Florida, desperately want to race during mid-winter, the peak tourist season.

The state's racing commission used to assign dates, but lawsuits followed each decision. Dates have since been deregulated, and next winter all three tracks likely will race simultaneously.

"It's ugly as sin down here," said Fran LaBelle, who covers horse racing for the Fort Lauderdale News & Sun Sentinel. "The president of one track says if you race at another, you won't get any stalls here. ... They're going to destruct."

If Maryland faces a similar invasion in Northern Virginia, Manfuso believes the state can trump it.

"We'd put OTB (off-track betting) parlors in the (surrounding Maryland) areas to compete, and we have a strong belief in our clientele," he said.

The Maryland legislature rejected off-track betting in its most recent session, but industry officials anticipate a reversal next year.

West Virginia plans no such trump, although Charles Town, the dominant of its two tracks (the other is in Wheeling near the Ohio border), is heavily dependent on Virginians.

"Naturally, we have some concern," Charles Town spokesman Ira Kaplan said. "We get about 40 percent of our business from Virginia, mostly from the Northern Virginia area. But this isn't something that has people up in arms in a panic. We have our clientele, and we expect to keep that.

"I think Virginia racing will be a little different. Our track is a few notches below the quality in Maryland. I expect Virginia to be somewhere in between. Different horses, different fans."

Carol Holden, a Virginia breeder who works at Charles Town for the West Virginia Breeder Development Fund, said, "They haven't had any competition. They may tell you differently, but Virginia has put them on their toes. They're thinking differently than they did this time a year ago. ...

"The one thing I don't want Virginia to have is another Charles Town. Maryland has quality racing, and I'm hoping for something along those lines, a nice place to go. The problem with Charles Town is they've let the place turn into, for lack of a better word, a pig sty."

Yet business at Charles Town is good. While attendance decreased from 814,000 in 1987 to 802,000 in '88, the total handle, or amount wagered, increased from $94.7 million in 1986 to $103.8 million in '87 to $109.7 million in '88.

Five years ago, attendance and handle at Pimlico and Laurel were dwindling. They have since doubled to more than 10,000 and $1.6 million a day, and all four Maryland tracks in 1988 combined to average 10,386 fans daily, fourth nationally behind California, New York and New Jersey.

Five years ago, Andrew Beyer, who covers horse racing for The Washington Post, wrote, "If Maryland racing were a person instead of a multi-million-dollar industry, it might be time to summon a priest to administer the last rites." Today Beyer calls Maryland "the most booming sector of American racing."